May 2017
Israeli Citizens Thank the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) for Endorsing Full Boycott of Israeli Apartheid
We are Israeli citizens, active against our government's policies of occupation, colonialism and apartheid (1).
Following years of activism on the ground here, we have come to the conclusion that the world must step forward and intervene to end these policies.
Therefore, we support the international Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign, called for by a broad coalition of Palestinian civil society groups (2).
We note that Norwegian civil society, Norwegian unions, and even the Norwegian government were vocal critics of apartheid in South Africa at the time. In fact, Norwegian activists and groups were among those leading the effective global campaign for BDS against the former apartheid regime in Pretoria.
We also note that the cruel policies, pursued by successive Israeli governments for decades, amount to what some leaders of the Anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa have deemed ‘worse than South Africa’ (3).
In view of these facts, support for the BDS campaign is the obvious and right moral conclusion.
We would like to thank the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) which has endorsed BDS (4). The LO represents more than 900.000 members (in a nation of 5 million), and this vote reflects deep Norwegian solidarity with the struggle to end apartheid here.
We call on trade unions elsewhere to follow this example and pass similar pro-BDS resolutions.
Godt gjort!
In solidarity!
Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within
( aka Boycott from Within )
(1) http://boycottisrael.info/, https://goo.gl/NsBWEy
(3) http://refrainplayingisrael.blogspot.co.il/2013/08/bds-south-africa-chair-farid-esack-to.html